Detailed review of Shannon Park redevelopment taking place

By Michael Lightstone

Halifax Regional Municipality staff are “currently completing the detailed review” of the multi-phase, redevelopment of Shannon Park in Dartmouth, a municipal spokesperson said recently.

Public affairs advisor Ryan Nearing said the review “consists of continued negotiations (with property owner Canada Lands Company) and the drafting of the development agreement” covering the former Department of National Defence site.

Last year, municipal staff provided an online survey regarding the Shannon Park project. The feedback-gathering questionnaire was available until June 7.

“Staff have completed the public engagement portion of the (development agreement) application,” Nearing said.

Canada Lands is a federal Crown corporation specializing in real estate. The 33-hectare Shannon Park site is a former military housing district which saw its remaining buildings demolished in 2017.

A draft agreement is to take into consideration “the feedback received by the public,” Nearing told CityNews Halifax Tuesday via email.

He said once a proposed development agreement is prepared, it and a staff report will be presented to the local community council. “The exact timing will depend on the negotiation process,” said Nearing.

A final decision on Shannon Park rests with Harbour East-Marine Drive Community Council, he said.

The project includes 26 city blocks, 3,000 housing units, 6.6 hectares of parkland, municipal services like water and sewer and a new public-transit facility.

A component of the redevelopment is an Indigenous-led plan – about 3.6 hectares have been transferred to the Millbrook First Nation as an addition to its reserve land.

”We’re looking at doing a mix of residential and commercial development along the waterfront for economic development purposes for our community,” a Millbrook official told CBC News almost a year ago.

Shannon Park, which is near the MacKay Bridge, had been the preferred site for major Commonwealth Games structures before Canada’s ill-fated bid for the 2014 event was killed, in 2007, by the provincial government and Halifax Regional Municipality due to cost.

The area is presently a collection of vacant lots, save for an elementary school, a walking-and-cycling trail and parking lots.

Michael Lightstone is a freelance reporter living in Dartmouth

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